The Story of Knight
by Gumnut
Summary: 250 years ago an AI was born. He was born into a car and a partnership that should have lasted longer than it did. This is the story of that AI. His loves, his losses, his life beyond his purpose. This is the story of Knight.
1. The Promise

"Promise me!"

"Michael…"

"Promise me, Kitt, please…" His voice drifted off as his eyes caught hold of something only he could see and widened in fear.

"Michael!"

"Huh?" He shook himself, fighting it.

"Michael, please, I can't…"

"Damnit, Kitt, don't make me order…you."

"I don't need too. Everything will be fine." It had to be.

"Kitt, I order you to promise me." His voice broke off and for a moment there was only the sound of stressed turbines. "I need you to promise m-" His driver flinched and then screamed, clutching his head. "God, Kitt, please!"

"I promise, Michael, I promise!" The syllables stuttered hurriedly over his voice box, the electronics unable to handle the emotion.

Michael collapsed in his seat a moment, as if whatever had been torturing him had given him a reprieve. His eyes glazed over. His voice was faint with strain. "Thankyou, buddy."

"Michael?'

"Thankyou." And his eyes closed, his body shuddering.

"Michael!" He couldn't squeeze anymore out of the car; it was giving everything it had. "Michael!"

"Please, Michael…"

Please. Repeated frantic medical scans. Shallow breathing and the twitch of uncontrolled muscles. Please Michael.

Please, I can't do this without you.

But he'd promised.

Promised to live.

Voice small and terrified. "Michael, please…"

There was no answer.

_Muse: Knight  
Fandom: Knight Rider  
Word count: 212_


	2. But

The weather had held out as long as it could, but the sky could only hold so much and eventually it came down. It clattered against his shell, the black paintwork shedding liquid in rivulets, draining off his hood and dripping across his scanner track.

Bonnie sat in his cabin, but not in his driver's seat.

He hadn't let anyone sit there for the past month. Not since Michael left it.

There was absolute silence except for the drumming of the rain. Devon had left them there by themselves after the funeral. If either of them had been thinking clearly, they might have thought of this as odd. But neither of them was. Devon's face had been pale and lined with crevices deep enough to swallow a lifetime of pain.

Michael was dead.

No denial. No second chances. No smart ass smile jumping up and declaring it all to be a joke. Or a mistake.

Dead.

End.

It spoke to him. Taunted him. Like it had since the moment Michael's heart had stopped beating.

This was the end.

His partner was dead and buried along with the AI's purpose of existence. There was nothing left to do.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Michael?

Nothing.

It bounced around his processors, going in painful circles, logic stripping him of everything.

But one last thing pulled at him. Stopped him from that final decision.

'God, Kitt, please!' Michael's screams were still echoing in his memory….now accompanied by his own.

'I promise, Michael, I promise!'

Please, I can't do this without you……

Can't do it.

Can't do it.

'Please, Michael….'

'Promise me, Kitt….'

Could an AI cry?

This one could. In absolute silence.

"Kitt?" Can't do it. "Kitt?"

Can't do it. Can't do it. Can't do it. Can't do it. Can't do it. Can't do it. Cantdoitcantdoitcantdoitcantdoitcantdoitcantdoitcantdoitcantdoitcantdoitcantdoitcantdoitcantdoitcantdoitcantdoitcantdoit…….

"KITT!"

Bonnie? His processor was spinning…dizzy. His voice synthesizer crackled. "B-bonnie?"

"It is time to go."

Go? Gone. Gone away. Gone forever. Gonegonegonegonegonegone….

"Kitt!"

Was he making sound? Sound. Sound of a voice. Sound. Michael? Michael can you hear me?

"Kitt, please! I can't do this without you." Crying. Bonnie was crying.

"B-bonnie?" Bonnie? "I want it to stop. Please, Bonnie, make it stop."

"I can't, Kitt, I'm sorry."

"Want to stop." Stop. Stopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstop…..

A hand on his dash. "You promised him, Kitt." The words registered as sobs and he was forced to focus on her. "You promised." And then in a desperate voice…"Please don't leave me too."

Her face was wet and wretched with crying and his processor quivered with pain at the sight. But…"Can't do it."

Can't do it. Can't do it. Can't do it. Can't do it. Can't do it.

"He wanted you to try!" The hand on his dash was trembling.

He wanted. Michael wanted. Michael was dead.

"Dead."

"Honey, please…" Her voice was strained and despite himself he automatically scanned. On ragged edge himself, he flinched at her medical stats….and the baby in her womb.

His electronic eyes fixated on the foetus.

'Promise me, Kitt…'

'Please, Michael…'

'Promise me!'

Promise.

His processors were still spinning and Bonnie was still crying.

And logic wanted him to die.

But…

_Muse: Knight  
Fandom: Knight Rider  
Challenge: Rain (libraryofwinds)  
Word count: 522_


	3. Broken strings

People often ask me how I survive the many deaths of those I love. It is a fact of survival that leads me to witness the death of others time and time again.

The first, the worst and the hardest was and always will be Michael. He had gone missing for nearly a week. Bonnie and Devon had been frantic. One of those few times he had gone to investigate a case by himself. I had been in the garage for repairs from our previous mission and he had hightailed it down to Silicon Valley at the request of an old friend.

The last anyone heard of him was a simple phone call to Bonnie to say he had arrived.

He missed his next checkin and the one after that. And I followed him, repairs be damned.

I couldn't find him.

The hotel he was supposed to be staying at was deserted.

So I tracked down his friend.

Buddy Simmons. His mother had also gone missing.

It took Devon, Bonnie and myself five long days to discover what had happened. The hotel clerk ended up with bruises.

What followed was a mad dash to Colorado and an invasion of a building. Concrete never stod in my way.

He still had the bandages on his head

Michael didn't die in my driver's seat. He died three long weeks later attached to tube and wire buried deep inside a hospital.

The promise he drew from me was the last conversation we had.

And the key to my survival.

The one string binding me to life was Michael. I lived for him. I was created to keep him safe, protect him, support him. He was my purpose. And I failed.

But I had made a promise.

I won't tell you my thoughts from those times. I refuse to revisit them.

Three months later Bonnie gave birth to Michael's son and suddenly yes, there was a Michael Knight. Not the same, not the one, but still with a mop of curly dark hair…and the baby drooled on my seats as much as the original.

The string was rewoven and knots tied.

It was a beginning.

But death is part of life and all grow old and die…and some just simply die. Each has a string attached to me, each holding me here and each string eventually breaks.

And I now have my children, Knights such as myself, but even the theoretically immortal die. Kole, you will always be remembered.

They say the Three Fates cut the strings of mortal lives.

But I am no longer a puppet.

I stand alone.

_Muse: Knight  
Fandom: Knight Rider  
Library challenge: strings  
Word count: 441_


	4. The Piano

Elizabeth loved the piano. Of all the heirlooms that cluttered the small cottage, the instrument was the one they could least afford to accommodate and yet were least likely to discard. It was jammed in one corner of the living room; doilies and dustcovers decorating its rosewood polish, protecting it from discarded scientific journals and random computer parts.

Bonnie had been known to sit there on occasion and stare out the window; the breeze was lovely on a summer's day, but it was when Elizabeth took the seat and lifted the cloth off the grand instrument that its worth truly became apparent.

Notes would drift from her fingertips, melodies both scripted and inspired, random compositions taken from the moment and laid down in sound.

Kitt loved to listen to her. He would park himself outside that window, sometimes recording, sometimes simply listening. Occasionally he would accompany her. She would be the piano and he, the rest of the grand orchestra.

She taught him to improvise, to follow his whim, and before long he was playing on his own. A tune would catch his imagination and he would follow it, turning it mathematically, applying principles to its geometry and moulding it to his emotional output. At times, Elizabeth would laugh as he wandered completely off the path, but other times she played along, simply smiling at him through the drapery and following his lead.

Mike commented on it once or twice, somewhat as amused as his father might have been. But on one particularly bad night on the road, when his driver had been injured and hurting, Kitt opened up the file of recordings. The piano filled the cabin with music, random compositions, light and dancing, some with Kitt's own input, some without…but all by his wife's hand.

Mike never poked fun at their pastime again.

After that it became a practise for Kitt to record her playing and play it back when they were far away. Both enjoyed the sounds of home, a reminder of what awaited them upon their return.

Kitt learned to long for.

He kept those recordings. Hoarding them in a corner of his memory, mostly playing them to himself in times of loneliness. Once he left the car and took on a humanoid shell, he acquired an instrument of his own, relishing the chance to make music traditionally, to experiment with the percussion of the keys rather than the manipulation of data.

And always, he would think of Elizabeth, sitting beside that window, smiling down at him. A small piece of her, kept for himself.

She had long passed away.

But her piano played on.

_Muse: Knight  
Fandom: Knight Rider originated  
Challenge: play (libraryofwinds)  
Word count: 439_


	5. Admitting fear

I used to be terrified of flying. Anyone who knows me now, but not then, would most likely scoff at the thought. Me? Afraid? Unlikely. After all, I spend a great deal of time in flight, extremely fast flight. Why would I blink at the thought?

Because I was literally terrified.

It was an aspect I inherited from my mother. Bonnie shared my fear. Perhaps she inadvertently gave it to me. If so, it would have been in simple protection. An indirect warning to keep away from something she saw as possibly injurious. It was most likely simple care, considered or not, and I certainly do not blame her. Besides, there were other aspects of my existence to consider.

In my first shell I had limited control over myself. There were instances of criminals hijacking a variety of my functions, from invading my mind through to taking my shell from me completely. Control was something I had little of. I did have the Trans Am and all its abilities, but there was always an override. I trusted Michael. I trusted Bonnie. At times, trust was all I had. But as I gained experience, that lack of control became a greater concern and there is no place more lacking in control than being aboard a plane several thousand metres above solid ground.

I admit to balking those times I was required to fly, whether planned or not. Michael understood and did his best to help, but in most cases it was unavoidable. I even considered requesting to be shut down during those journeys, but that would betray my primary purpose. The thought of waking up and finding Michael had died while I was offline was one of the worst scenarios I could contemplate. So I accepted the challenge and did what was necessary.

It didn't make it any easier.

But one thing did.

I am an AI. Little more than code. One day I decided it was far too much a risk for those I protected for me to have such a fear.

So I had it removed.

Did it change me? Most likely. But now I can be who I need to be.

Fear has its place, irrationality does not.

_Muse: Knight  
Fandom: Knight Rider originated  
Challenge: fly (libraryofwinds)  
Word count: 370 _


	6. Three

Knight had the ability to move faster than the average human and he used every metre per second of that ability in that moment, propelling himself forward off the bridge. His yell wasn't needed, but he screamed out his partner's name nonetheless, voice synthesizer backed by two hundred kilograms of synthsteel android.

Air rushed over him, his clothes flapping like some pseudo super hero costume. His calculations were precise, his velocity, timed to within a nanosecond. Consequently, he caught El in midair as planned, wrapping himself around the man protectively as they fell.

Two microseconds later, the bridge exploded.

Shrapnel sparked and smashed against his back, the MBS proving it's worth. His jacket lit up; flame flickering as much as the material flapped.

Concrete approached at speed. El was screaming his name.

The MAV shot into position, top open ready to receive…Knight let his partner drop, catching him with his other half.

Unfortunately there was no time to catch himself.

Knight slammed into the roof of the MAV, MBS meeting MBS with a godawful clang. The synthsteel of his android shell buckled under the stronger superstructure of the vehicle and he let out a yelp as systems malfunctioned, damage reports screaming through his processors.

It lasted only a moment, his hands grabbing for purchase on the smooth surface and failing. He registered El yelling his name once more before he slid off the craft sideways.

And he was falling again.

Sensors gave him height calculations all the way down and he vaguely picked up on El's attempts to get the MAV into position, but Knight knew there was not enough time for the manoeuvre.

Two point two three seconds later the ground came up hard and hit him. Three microseconds of pure electronic pain before he defaulted to a blessed shutdown and knew no more.

_Muse: Knight  
Fandom: Knight Rider originated  
Challenge: three (libraryofwinds)  
Word count: 305_


	7. Elegance

Awareness came back slowly, something unusual for the norm.

"Kitt, love, can you hear me?"

His eyes were not open, but he could see. He frowned. Both actions came instinctively, yet both were extremely strange. He opened his mouth.

"B-" There was an odd buzz sound that startled him.

The familiar outline, sketched in infra red beside him, reached out a hand and touched his shoulder. "A little slower, love, give yourself the time." Her other hand touched a compinterface beside the bed and something shifted in his processor. "Try again."

He frowned but obeyed. "B-Bonecia?"

"Yes, love. How do you feel?"

How did he feel? His program was stretching itself out, assessing peripherals, noting changes, adapting to the flood of new information and hardware.

"I feel…strange."

"Good strange or bad strange?" There was a hint of concern in her voice.

"Just strange." He finally made the effort to open his eyes and the visual spectrum flooded his processor. He blinked, harnessing focus. A hand crossed his vision and he felt the touch of her fingertips at his brow. "What happened?" Then realising what he had just asked, panic overtook his processors. "Bonecia?" He attempted to scan but found the ability unavailable. "What-?!" Sit up!

But he couldn't do that either.

"Shh, shh, love. It's okay." The fingertips stroked his temple. "You were in an accident."

Accident? "What happened?" And why did he have no record of it?

She sighed. "An explosion. El got into some difficulty and you had to pull him out of it. You fell quite a distance." There was worry in her eyes. "Your shell was damaged and we had to place you in the bi'roid earlier than we had planned." She reached down and lifted one of his hands up so he could see.

The bi'roid? He stared at the somewhat elegant hand she claimed was his and his processor reached for it.

The fingers twitched.

They had been working on the project for several years. A shell that could hold an artificial intelligence autonomously with minimal maintenance and recharge requirements. He had seen it as a form of freedom he could one day have…

But the project wasn't entirely ready. Close, but…

"Why?"

Why was he in the new form? Why not one of his spare shells? Why not temporarily in the Knightech mainframe? And why couldn't he move?

Her expression was one of uncertainty as if she was reluctant to tell him anything further.

"Bonecia?"

Tears? Were those tears in her eyes? Again he tried to scan and cursed the error that came back. Again he tried to sit up. Damnit!

Her fingers moved over the compinterface once more and his processors began shutdown. "Bon-??"

And everything went black.

__

Muse: Knight  
Fandom: Knight Rider originated  
Library Challenge: Elegance (libraryof winds)  
Word Count: 455


	8. Remains

He could see it from many miles away. His new sensors reached further than any had before, but still he had to come, had to see, stand, touch, try to make it real in order to take that next step...whatever it was.

Bonecia came with him. Her tears had run dry. He had none.

His feet hit the pavement as he climbed out of the MAV and he straightened. The bi'roid was functional in the majority, but he was still having difficulty with some of the motor systems.

He walked with a limp.

He ignored it.

He didn't wait for Bonecia. She had been here before. She had said goodbye while Knight was still struggling to stand on his own two feet. She had argued that the shell was still not ready, but he was determined to begin as soon as possible.

Little remained of the building that had held Knightech. Blackened rubble, a twisted metal skeleton that had held its occupants prisoner until its collapse.

And where had Knight been? Where had he been while the family he was sworn to protect went up in flames?

Not here.

He wasn't wearing his jacket today. It had burnt along with the bridge he'd leapt off to save El.

His scanners had snapped on the moment he was in significant range, secondary systems rifling through wreckage in the hope of a clue, any clue that could give him a direction. Carbon, trace elements, human remains, his eyes closed a moment as he tracked over cellular residue belonging to Andrew. His lips thinned.

"Kitt?"

It was a sign of his distraction that he hadn't noticed her approach. Or perhaps trust dulled his sensors. Either way, he didn't answer.

Scanning.

"Kitt, love?"

Chemical after chemical, he broke the building into its constituent components. Then further to atomic level, assessing molecular disturbance, radiation sources and...it was there. His lips disappeared and his eyes flashed solid red. Clear as day, the signature was there.

The bastards.

They had distracted him with lives while taking those dearest from beneath him.

"Ki-"

"It was them." He turned on one heel and strode back towards the MAV, stumbling only once. Peripherally he was aware of Bonecia hurrying to catch up.

"Knight, for god's sake, slow down."

He ignored her.

"Damnit, Kitt, look at me!"

The familiar tone chipped as his sensors. He stopped, turning, one foot catching on a chunk of rubble and he stumbled.

She caught him, of course. Her small hands grabbing at his upper arms and holding him up despite the fact his mass was around triple hers. "Love, what do you think you are doing? You can barely walk."

He looked up, catching the reflection of his own red lit eyes in the moisture of hers. "My job." His voice was cold and mechanical in a way that had nothing to do with the technology supporting it.

"Your job is getting the repairs you need."

He tried to wrest himself away from her, but without injury she wasn't going to let him go. She was, after all, a Knight.

The last surviving Knight.

He stared at her patiently, waiting her out. Her eyes narrowed into a glare as stubborn met stubborn.

A moment in time.

"Knight, you are not leaving protective custody until you are fully functional, is that clear?"

She was desperate. No one had tried to order him in years.

He continued to stare at her calmly.

"Damnit, Knight, do as you're told." The command was pleading.

He turned away from her, and her hands fell from his shirt. But he didn't continue his limp towards the MAV and after a moment, he looked at her. "Andrew was a scientist. Of all the Knights I have known, I thought that at last I had one that wasn't going to run off and get himself killed. And he didn't. But they came for him anyway."

"And what do you think you can do about it in the state you are in?" Anger flared in her eyes.

"Time is a factor."

"Time is always a factor. It has never stopped you before."

He froze. The well meant statement cutting through his processors like a knife. Another moment and he was stumbling back towards the MAV.

"Knight? Knight!"

He ignored her completely. Time was a factor.

And he was damned if he was going to let it take another Knight from him.

-o-o-o-


	9. What she thought

"I think we should get married."

Knight was leaning over a microscope adjusting a MAV circuit board. Unfortunately his sudden uncontrolled reaction resulted in a small puff of smoke drifting up and clogging the lens. What?

He looked up at her. "Married?"

"Yes." But apparently his expression wasn't satisfactory. "Why not?" She frowned at him.

"Bonecia, I'm an AI. Artificial. AIs don't get married." He turned back to the circuit board but found it ruined. A sigh as he tossed it aside.

"Why not?"

"Because they don't."

"Because you don't want to?"

"I didn't say that."

"Then what is the problem?"

He looked up at her again. "There are hundreds of eligible young men out there all waiting to meet a lovely young lady such as yourself." He looked back at the microscope and picked up another circuit board with a pair of tweezers.

But he was surprised again as she crouched down beside him. The board dropped onto the tabletop. "Kitt, love, none of them are you."

He blinked at her, his new scanners relaying back information about her mood. "Bonecia?"

"Love, you have been with this family for two hundred years. You've protected us, watched over us, loved us. Is it any surprise that we might love you back?"

He blinked again, further surprise causing him to fall back on old habits. "It can be expected that humans will anthropomorphise inanimate objects-"

"Don't give me that claptrap. You don't believe it anymore than I do." She glared at him.

"I-"

"Kitt, love…" She reached out a hand and touched his cheek. "You are a wonderful, caring man. Why do you find it so hard to believe that others…that I might care for you in return?"

"I am not programmed to-"

"Since when has that stopped you? You weren't programmed to inhabit a bi'roid either. Pursue neutronics? Live in a house with the family? You were programmed to drive a car, but you are so much more, love." She ran her fingers through his hair, her eyes following.

"But with Andrew's death, you are the last Knight. What of children?" What of his purpose?

She was silent a moment and he thought he may have gone too far. Andrew's death was still too recent, though months ago now. He felt it would always be too recent.

"We have the capability, love. Who said children had to be of biological derivation? We have the technology. You want children? I can give them to you." Her tone was firm, determined. She had obviously given this a great deal of thought. "Please, Kitt….would you consent to be my husband?"

He stared at her, his eyes solid red.

_Muse: Knight  
Fandom: Knight Rider  
Challenge: children (**libraryofwinds**)  
Word count: 445_


	10. Popcorn

There have been times where existing at the forefront of technology has had its setbacks. After all, most of the time I gain a new piece of equipment, I am my own guinea pig.

And such a time was the first malfunction of my respiratory system.

It was a movie night for my partner and a few co-workers. This was long before CLEA. CLEA developed after Bonecia and I had our children. Prior to that, my status as an employee of Knight Industries, and what later became Knightech, fluctuated. Most times I continued to perform the functions I was designed for, but FLAG, as it was, ceased to exist the day Devon died. The Knight family…Michael Knight's family…took a long time to recover from his death and the difficulties that followed. And I am not afraid to admit, that I too suffered a great deal during that time.

But the movie night, this particular movie night was during a time of relative stability. My then partner was a man by the name of 'El'. It was short for Elvis, but since he was well known for pulling his gun on any who used his full name, most called him El. I think back now of the times I taunted him for that, knowing that he knew the gun was little threat in my case…until he spiked the lubricant I used with beach sand.

He was always 'El' after that.

El had invited himself and a few of the others over to my family home. Bonecia and Andrew both liked El. I also believe they liked the fact that he was able to counter many of my arguments with arguments of his own. El, gun toting though he was, was a very thoughtful man. I learnt a great deal from him.

All in all there were six of us in total and we chose one of the latest releases and settled down on the couch for a night's entertainment.

And El brought popcorn.

He never let me forget what happened, not that I could. He and several of the others found it highly amusing and for weeks afterwards they made a point to re-enact my reaction.

The pressure regulator on my air intake valve malfunctioned causing the entire system to overcompensate and, as El termed it, my nose turned into a vacuum cleaner.

Bonecia had been sitting beside me with the popcorn bowl.

Diagnostics alerted me to the problem, but not quickly enough to prevent several kernels of popcorn, part of my shirt and several strands of Bonecia's rather long hair from being drawn into my nasal cavity. A hasty system shutdown released the shirt and the hair, but the popcorn lodged itself in a rather inconvenient position.

The expression on the faces around me were rather astonished to say the least.

And apparently mine was equally as shocked and somewhat humorous to spectate.

I spent the rest of that night in Tech Services being repaired as my system needed the intake, not able to maintain my integrals for any great deal of time without it.

And the next day I found a sign above my desk.

_Danger: Vacuum_

I think El found it hilarious until I returned the favour.

_Muse: Knight  
Fandom: Knight Rider  
Word count: 543_


End file.
